The subject matter of the invention relates to an apparatus for the supervision of a battle vehicle, especially an armored car or tank for use in training, from a control station, such apparatus including at least one television camera which is coupled by an optical adapter device to a sighting mechanism or observation unit in the battle vehicle and is connected by a video transmission system to a television receiver disposed in the control station.
With an apparatus of this kind it is possible, for example, to supervise the gunner and/or the commander during training in that the viewscreen of the television receiver disposed in the control station displays, during the entire period of use, the picture which the gunner sees through his aiming or observation apparatus, and thus the activities of the gunner can be supervised and corrected. If the commander's observation instrument is coupled with a similar television camera, it is possible by means of a remotely controlled switching device which can be operated on the basis of a given control program to transmit to the viewscreen of the television receiver in the control station either the picture from the television camera associated with the gunner or the picture of the television camera associated with the commander.
Such an apparatus is known, and described for example in DE-OS No. 30 23 517.
Now, in certain applications it has been found advantageous if the possibility is provided for viewing from the control station not only the gunner and/or commander of the vehicle or the pictures transmitted by the aiming and observation instruments they are using, but also the target area itself, so as to identify the placement of hits during practice gunnery.
The problem to which the invention was addressed was to design the apparatus of the type mentioned above so as to make it possible to observe not only one or more operators of the vehicle but also the target area, and to do so selectively and alternatively at given intervals of time on the basis of certain given criteria.